Access Hollywood reveals that Ellen DeGeneres enlisted the help of former Cincinnati Reds Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan to persuade George Clooney to appear on her show.

A long-time baseball enthusiast, Clooney once played for his high school varsity team in Augusta, Kentucky.  In 1977, the 16-year-old centerfielder made the 43-mile trip to Cincinnati to try out for the Reds, at least once (and maybe twice).

In an interview with Parade, the actor described the experience:

“I was good at a lot of sports,” he recalled. “I even tried out for the Cincinnati Reds baseball team. I’d been in a world where I was the best around, and then I went into a camp where all the best around met, and I was nowhere as good as those guys. They threw rockets. When I realized I was never going to be those guys, I could walk away because I’d at least given it a run.”

In February 2008, Clooney was given a chance to suit up for the minor league Dayton Dragons during an interview on AMC’s cable entertainment show “Shootout.”  Show producer Peter Guber, who also owns the ball club, tossed Clooney a team cap and said, “We’re ready to sign you up, anytime you’re ready.”

The Academy Award winner owns the movie rights for the book “The Catcher Was a Spy: the Moe Berg Story.”  The film has yet to be produced.

Tom Van Riper at Forbes.com reports that the New York Yankees rank fifth on the list of the world’s most valuable sports teams.  According to the article, the franchise is worth $1.3 billion.

Benefitting from an enormous television deal, the Yankees stand alone as the only team in Major League Baseball worth over a billion dollars.  Expect that to rise as the team moves into a new stadium next season.

The top 10 list includes the Yankees, two English soccer clubs, a Spanish soccer club, and six National Football League teams.  Collectively, the NFL is worth more than double MLB and is worth more than MLB, the NBA, and the NHL combined.

Interesting to note that three of the teams on the list are from New York, and three of the teams are from one NFL division (NFC East).

Top 10 Highest Valued Sports Franchises

1. Manchester United; English Premier League; $1.8 billion; 27-5-6, first place
2. Dallas Cowboys; NFL; $1.6 billion; 13-3, first place
3. Washington Redskins; NFL; $1.5 billion; 9-7, third place
4. New England Patriots; NFL; $1.32 billion; 16-0, first place
5. New York Yankees; MLB, $1.3 billion; 89-73, third place
6. Real Madrid; Spanish Primera División; $1.29 billion; 27-7-4, first place
7. Arsenal; English Premier League; $1.2 billion; 24-3-11, third place
8. New York Giants; NFL; $1.18 billion; 10-6, second place (Super Bowl winners)
9. New York Jets; NFL; $1.17 billion; 4-12, third place
10. Houston Texans; NFL; $1.17 billion; 8-8, fourth place

[Team; League; Worth; Record in division (W-L-T) and division or league standings for the last full season]

Aggregate Worth of the Major US Sports Leagues

• NFL – $33.3 billion
• MLB – $14.1 billion
• NBA – $11.4 billion
• NHL – $ 6.6 billion

So much for Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice getting to bask in their Baseball Hall of Fame selection glory.

A quick and unscientific study of a popular search engine’s news stories for the past week reveals:

• 2,505 results for Roger Clemens
• 2,183 results for Rickey Henderson
• 2,112 results for Jim Rice
• 1,312 results for Barry Bonds
• 1,028 results for Mark McGwire

On a more encouraging note, stories related to baseball + Hall of Fame are more prevalent than articles on baseball + steroids or HGH or human growth hormone or performance enhancing drugs – by a tally of 4,797 to 2,758 results.

The debate about whether Mark McGwire should be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame – or whether he is even stat-worthy for it – is bound to rage on, but if the percentages garnered by McGwire during the last three years of voting are any indication, that verdict has effectively been decided.

Some writers are suggesting (a little self-righteously, no?) that McGwire (like Pete Rose) owes “us” an apology – and only then will he be properly considered for the Hall. Bunk, I say.

Regardless of what Big Red and Major League Baseball did (or did not do) or how the performance-enhancing drug issue should have been (and should be) handled, Mark McGwire’s inclusion on the Hall of Fame ballot for the next 12 years (assuming he continues to get at least five percent of the votes) is going to set the precedent for how Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds will be treated.

And you can count on the news stories focusing more on what happened in the dark corners of the locker room than what happened between the lines.

(revised to reflect updated IBAF rankings)

The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) posted (and corrected) its first-ever World Rankings table today.

Cuba slides easily into the top spot with 1021.50 points.  The USA pulls up into second with 799.32 points.  Korea hits third with 779.82 points.  Full rankings can be found here and here.

“The IBAF is long overdue for World Rankings,” said IBAF President Dr. Harvey Schiller in a press release. “The level of competition worldwide grows stronger every year, and we need to begin to recognize the federations that are fielding teams and performing well, whether it is in an intra-continental tournament or a World Cup.”

Nation’s federations are awarded points based on a formula which takes into account a teams finishing position and the size and importance of various international baseball tournaments.  The World Rankings will be recalculated after each qualifying event.

The IBAF was founded in 1938 and is located in Lausanne, Switzerland.  The non-governmental organization works to develop and grow the game of baseball around the world.

Another classic BaseballInk.com baseball limerick:

If pitching a shutout is one of your goals
Show batters your pinpoint control
Finesse them beaucoup
But whatever you do
Don’t hang a curveball near Albert Pujols

For more five-line fun, check out our new Baseball Limericks site!